Should toy marketing be gender neutral?

More toys seem to be targeting boys (think as warriors) or girls (small princesses). However, some parents and experts ask if the toy is "pink" or "blue"

"It is estimated that the global toy market in 2012 will be $ 84 billion, of which $ 20 billion will be attributable to the US market, according to Statista.com, the direct economic effect of the US toy industry will be about $ 29 billion It is presumed and supports about 250,000 employment, which is a big problem.

In the discussion room of the New York Times, I solved this problem with a series of columns and asked some questions on the theme. "How important is a gender neutral toy to destroy an old character, is it possible to broaden an interesting choice for children and parents?"

Elizabeth Sweet is studying books on toys, gender, inequality. Scholars and lecturers at the University of California Davis say that gender gap in toy marketing has become obvious more than ever. "For example, in the Sears catalog of 1975, there are many shades of toys, and you can see that boys and girls work together in scientific suits and kitchen sets."

She opposed the idea that "eliminating an adult toy would prevent a child's toy from having sex-specific toys and making them into a monotonous and homogeneous toy ocean." Or a boy choosing a blue truck - it only forcibly stops this choice. "

Sharon Lamb, a professor of counseling and school psychology at Boston University in Massachusetts, co-authored with Packaging Girlhood and wondered why "battle toy warrior toys" like bow and arrow should be pink. Little girls know that it can play with them.

"Marketers and toy makers will choose stereotypes, they are just chasing the market, that is what girls want and that they want," said the gender color codename manufacturer The lack of imagination about real girls and their range of interest "

Toy critic Jim Silver believes that manufacturers narrow down the marketing of certain toys by gender. Boys also like cooking. Girls may like hot wheels. He said manufacturers are trying to increase the number of products they sell by touching two gender.

"Some gender bias is created by parents, we are drawing pink and blue in the kids room, toys for girls for dolls and action characters as boys' toys," he writes. "But what is the real difference? We choose Barbie to be too thin and hope to have an unrealistic figure (please forget that it is a toy), but the action figure aisle It is also impossible to ignore many "enhanced" bodies of. It is realized. "

According to Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, since most companies are managed by men, toys have a gender goal, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox is the 20th managing partner, "Women, professionals and competition Advantage of "is. author

She thinks that gender should be balanced in the manufacture and sale of toys and is supporting Swedish campaign to create equal labels for toy gender. But she raises a question whether things will change dramatically unless we change the proportion of men and women who manage the company and if not, "Parents are helpless among complex marketing between toys and movies I will continue. " It is harder than anyone else to claim gender stereotypes to buy and sell children, desperate early, to meet expectations, and to accept things. "

Clintin Carothers, a clinical psychologist, works with children and adolescents at the Institute for Child Psychology, but parents think they should encourage parents to explore what they are interested in. "In all areas, including toys, parents have the right and responsibility to discuss pressure and commercial marketing from children and colleagues," she wrote.